The Holiday Gift Get Psyched Thread, Excitement and speculation Options

[thefunkyredcaboose]

The time of the holiday gift promised by CT is nearly upon us. This is the place where we talk and speculate and circle jerk about how awesome it is going to be. I can't recall when the gift was sent out last year, but it should be soon right?

Anyone want to try and pull some specifics out of him or the other guys at a show?

What we know is that it will be from the Secret Samadhi era, which is where last year's gift came from as well. More material from the same session maybe? I hope so, as those songs had a really unique vibe.

Talk on!

[thefunkyredcaboose]

Just in case anyone has stopped salivating over this, here is what CT said about the Churchbox and Jamaica sessions:

SECRET SAMADHI CHURCHBOX DEMO, 1996 (Columbia, PA) age, 25yrs.
MEDIA FORMAT: DAT

Throwing Copper changed the game. It was a massive success only overshadowed by the tour that surrounded it. PJ Harvey (don’t forget the towel), Veruca Salt, Weezer and Jimmy Chicken Shack were only a few of the openers to support us as we toured the globe for two years non-stop. I bought a house (with cash I might add) and moved into a swanky neighborhood in Lancaster, PA only a few blocks from where Ed had also purchased a home. We were in our early 20’s with way too much money & fame. We both wanted to chill out and enjoy the fruits of our hard work. Gracey moved to Portland OR to marry his first wife and Patrick escaped to the party life of South Beach. The Lancaster clan continued with the high pace energy of the road while still living in a small town. The two didn’t mix well as we ate, drank and generally raised hell from bar-to-bar all in the spirit of celebration. I wrote the riff to Lakini’s Juice on the third floor of my house, passing out over several bottles of red wine but the vast majority of songs were assembled at The Chameleon Club. We had arranged with owner & friend Rich Ruoff to let us write, rehearse and record (still have the cassette) during the daytime hours when the club was closed. Ed brought in GasHed and I nearly died it was so good. The first recording, a board tape from The Chameleon is one million times better than anything on the album! Fuck, I just got chills writing about it. We were so excite, we called Ken and Jay at the Churchbox and booked some time to demo the new material. Ghost would feature the churches massive pipe organ (still better than the album), Freaks, Mall Rat, Photograph and Turn My Head are a few I can recall. Gary liked the vibe but didn’t think we had the single and would push us further. In my opinion, this is the greatest creative era of Live and thankfully, The Churchbox Session are very well documented. I would go as far as to say that the early energy captured in these demos blows always anything we captured on the album. The audio quality is amazing.

SECRET SAMADHI JAMAICA-HOUSE, 1996 (Montego Bay, Jamaica) age, 25yrs.
MEDIA FORMAT: DAT, ADAT

Jay Healy was brought in to record and produce the band. I had used him as an engineer on Solution A.D. and secured a number 1 modern rock single with Fearless. I sold the band on Jay. I thought what we needed based on the Churchbox Sessions was less of a producer and more of an engineer who would document the material. We rented a large estate overlooking Montego Bay and began searching for a sound or a song that would really catapult the band into supernova. My soul loved Jamaica and I began to transform my guitar playing and sound. I had purchased an old Fender Super Reverb and would begin to play into its vibrations. Unsheathed and Heropsychodreamer featured the reverberant quality’s of our rum-punch, pot infused sound. Dahlheimer delivered the guitar to Merica and in a finale, Ed told me to play the riff from Lakini’s Juice. I had almost forgot about it. He and Matt Gracey sat on the balcony as Ed screamed “more wine” in the verse. Thankfully, Trevor, our butler (seriously) brought more wine. These demos capture the band creativity that I think was the essential property that made Live a powerhouse band. The sessions are extremely raw, with very little mixing effort and were only intended to convince Gary that it was time to record. Thankfully, he gave the green light. There are several unreleased/unrecorded songs on these demos that will hopefully find there way to the public over time.

[LiveFan92]

Just in case anyone has stopped salivating over this, here is what CT said about the Churchbox and Jamaica sessions:

SECRET SAMADHI CHURCHBOX DEMO, 1996 (Columbia, PA) age, 25yrs.
MEDIA FORMAT: DAT

Throwing Copper changed the game. It was a massive success only overshadowed by the tour that surrounded it. PJ Harvey (don’t forget the towel), Veruca Salt, Weezer and Jimmy Chicken Shack were only a few of the openers to support us as we toured the globe for two years non-stop. I bought a house (with cash I might add) and moved into a swanky neighborhood in Lancaster, PA only a few blocks from where Ed had also purchased a home. We were in our early 20’s with way too much money & fame. We both wanted to chill out and enjoy the fruits of our hard work. Gracey moved to Portland OR to marry his first wife and Patrick escaped to the party life of South Beach. The Lancaster clan continued with the high pace energy of the road while still living in a small town. The two didn’t mix well as we ate, drank and generally raised hell from bar-to-bar all in the spirit of celebration. I wrote the riff to Lakini’s Juice on the third floor of my house, passing out over several bottles of red wine but the vast majority of songs were assembled at The Chameleon Club. We had arranged with owner & friend Rich Ruoff to let us write, rehearse and record (still have the cassette) during the daytime hours when the club was closed. Ed brought in GasHed and I nearly died it was so good. The first recording, a board tape from The Chameleon is one million times better than anything on the album! Fuck, I just got chills writing about it. We were so excite, we called Ken and Jay at the Churchbox and booked some time to demo the new material. Ghost would feature the churches massive pipe organ (still better than the album), Freaks, Mall Rat, Photograph and Turn My Head are a few I can recall. Gary liked the vibe but didn’t think we had the single and would push us further. In my opinion, this is the greatest creative era of Live and thankfully, The Churchbox Session are very well documented. I would go as far as to say that the early energy captured in these demos blows always anything we captured on the album. The audio quality is amazing.

SECRET SAMADHI JAMAICA-HOUSE, 1996 (Montego Bay, Jamaica) age, 25yrs.
MEDIA FORMAT: DAT, ADAT

Jay Healy was brought in to record and produce the band. I had used him as an engineer on Solution A.D. and secured a number 1 modern rock single with Fearless. I sold the band on Jay. I thought what we needed based on the Churchbox Sessions was less of a producer and more of an engineer who would document the material. We rented a large estate overlooking Montego Bay and began searching for a sound or a song that would really catapult the band into supernova. My soul loved Jamaica and I began to transform my guitar playing and sound. I had purchased an old Fender Super Reverb and would begin to play into its vibrations. Unsheathed and Heropsychodreamer featured the reverberant quality’s of our rum-punch, pot infused sound. Dahlheimer delivered the guitar to Merica and in a finale, Ed told me to play the riff from Lakini’s Juice. I had almost forgot about it. He and Matt Gracey sat on the balcony as Ed screamed “more wine” in the verse. Thankfully, Trevor, our butler (seriously) brought more wine. These demos capture the band creativity that I think was the essential property that made Live a powerhouse band. The sessions are extremely raw, with very little mixing effort and were only intended to convince Gary that it was time to record. Thankfully, he gave the green light. There are several unreleased/unrecorded songs on these demos that will hopefully find there way to the public over time.